Firefighters evacuate homes amid 3-alarm Canton fire

Baltimore warehouse ignites with heavy flames, officials say

Baltimore firefighters are still working to put out smoldering embers and clean up a massive three-alarm warehouse blaze that broke out in the Canton area Sunday night.

The fire billowed heavy flames and sent smoke and a pungent odor of chemicals into the neighborhood.

Baltimore City Fire Department Capt. Roman Clark said firefighters were called to the 1000 block of Baylis Street near Boston Street shortly after 8:30 p.m. Sunday to find the two-story Eastern Plating warehouse engulfed in fire.

Firefighters evacuated some neighboring homes as a precaution. There were no injuries reported.

Fire officials said Monday that there were about 8,000 gallons of sulfuric, chromic and nitric acid inside the brick warehouse. Because of concerns about the building's structural integrity, firefighters weren't able to get inside to find out what the chemicals were until late Monday afternoon.

The Maryland Department of the Environment was called to help with the hazmat assessment of those containers. Fire crews have been diluting the leaking acid.

Meanwhile, Capt. James Wallace of the city's hazmat crew said they're monitoring the air and water runoff in the area for chemicals. Wallace said there were no airborne contaminants. He said they've also been checking out the homes of those who have asked. So far, all the readings have been negative.

City officials blocked off several streets around the fire scene because of the possibility of the warehouse collapsing as a result of the amount of water used to fight the fire and from the day's rain.

As many as 90 firefighters, command, EMS and support staff were called to the fire. They set a perimeter around the structure, fighting the fire from ladders, the ground and master streams.

Firefighters were finally able to gain control over the flames by 11:30 p.m., extinguishing the bulk of the fire, WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Sheldon Dutes reported.

Officials said a building inspector checked out what needs to be demolished so crews could check more of the building's interior.

Baltimore Gas and Electric said at 9 a.m. Monday that it has restored most of the power to the area.